Day 9: Give to God what is God’s

Andrew writing. Today in Galilee was hotter than normal (about 110 degrees), so it was an appropriate setting to for our Israel trip to further our journey into the life of Jesus. Jesus spent a great deal of his life in the Galilee area, having grown up in Nazareth and doing 2/3 of his ministry in the Capernaum-Bethsaida-Chorazin triangle. Our first stop today was Gamla, a Zealot town near Syria.

RVL has been trying to help recreate for us the political and religious tension that existed in Jesus’s time. Gentile Christians and modernists tend to take Jesus out of His culture and make his statements all about doctrine. Nothing could be further from the truth. One might argue that Jesus lived during a time and place of one of the world’s highest points of tension.

The Jews had been conquered by a succession of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and now Rome. The Jews had been able to kick out the Greeks for 100 years under the Maccabean revolt, and there were numerous attempts to revolt against the Romans by the time Jesus came around. Jewish revolts were always started by a group called Cana-im (“Zealots”), who believed that God allowed violence against Gentiles who brought evil to God’s land.

Gamla was a town of Zealots who were destroyed by Rome in 67 AD during their last major revolt. At Gamla, we were able to get a better feel for the various movements of Jesus’s day: Zealots, Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees. The first three groups were passionate about God and His word, but had different ways of ushering in the kingdom of God. The Sadducees were basically in bed with the Romans and had political power, so they were hated by the other three groups.

Though Jesus’s teaching most often aligned with the Essene movement, the Sadducees branded him a Zealot and wanted him crucified as a terrorist. This really hit me. Jesus was talking about another kingdom that was not of Rome. Humans don’t want to consider complex ways of life – like forgiveness – so they assume that Jesus wanted to overthrow the government.

The Sadducee leadership convinced the Romans that Jesus was a terrorist and he was executed next to two Zealots. No wonder Jesus said that the world will hate you if you love Him. His kingdom really is not a part of this world. People won’t understand it. It will appear that you are trying to destroy everything they hold dear. In almost all eras of Christian faith, people have died for Jesus’s kingdom.

We then went to Caesarea Philippi, near the border of Lebanon. This city, formerly called Panias (or Banias) was the site where people worshiped Pan, the god of fertility. Panias was famous because it was a location in Israel where water came from an underground spring, so the locals believed it came from the underworld. The impressive rock formation led people to call it the “Gates of Hades”.

Sexual rituals developed over time to appease Pan and stimulate him sexually. This place would have been sexually explicit even by American standards (i.e. public bestiality, etc.) yet Jesus takes his (probably teenage) disciples to Caesarea Philippi, because he wanted them to see the weakness of evil.

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’

“Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’” - Matthew 16:13-18

Jesus described the church as attacking hell. We often think about it as the other way around. RVL pointed out that Jesus has bound the “strong man” (Mark 3) and the church is now taking Satan’s “possessions” by leading people to God. It is incredible to consider that Jesus is building his church on the rock (Peter, and other disciples) but also over the rock of hell.

We closed the day by visiting the Temple at Omrit. This was one of Herod’s temples to honor Caesar Augustus and proclaim his divinity. These temples became a symbol of the divinity of each emperor of Rome and required the lives of many Christians who wouldn’t bow to Caesar. RVL took this as an opportunity to reflect on the time when Jesus was confronted about paying the temple tribute to Caesar.

“Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tribute.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” – Matthew 22:17-21

Jesus took the position of Rabbi Hillel on this point, though unpopular with the Zealots, Essenes, and Pharisees at the time. Jesus said to pay the temple tribute because it didn’t mean you were calling Caesar God. At the same time, Jesus asked all followers of God – as we are made in God’s image – to give our lives to God in all ways. Sometimes that means following God to the death.

We are daily strengthened by your prayers. Please continue to pray for us as we are hot, tired, and dehydrated at times. But we also feel strong, so thank you.